Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about the possibility of tight end Rob Gronkowski’s retirement.  Not surprising to anyone, he wasn’t willing to discuss it.  He went with the coach and player confidentiality excuse.

According to Belichick he has had a lot of conversations with his players and he’s going to keep them private.

Via NBC Sports:

Asked if he had gotten any indication from Gronkowski on whether he’d be back for 2018, Belichick answered, “I’m not going to speak for anybody else. Conversations I’ve had with the players – and I’ve had a lot of them – I’m gonna keep those private between myself and the player. I’ll respect that coach-to-player conversation. I don’t want to speak for anybody else.”

I followed by asking whether the team needed to make any contingent plans in case they were caught short at tight end. 

Belichick wasn’t having it. “Trying to get the slider coming in over the outside corner? Yeah. I think I just covered that.”

Why haven’t members of the media learned that asking Bill Belichick questions is a complete waste of time?  There was absolutely no chance he was going to reveal that Gronk was retiring and on top of that what there plans were when he does.